Grumble—
In the courtyard, a pile of wood logs was burning furiously, and smoke was billowing upwards from the huge bubbling iron pot set up in the center of the courtyard.
Dozens of materials were boiling in the iron pot, including medicinal herbs and the flesh and blood of different beasts.
It wasn’t a decoction but the extraction of rune ink.
Generally speaking, rune masters required a special ink furnace to extract rune ink. Some precious ink furnaces were even engraved with runes, in the same way that aeth tools often had runes engraved on them.
However, Lin Xun wasn’t yet able to construct an ink furnace and so he had to use an iron pot to extract rune ink.
The rune ink extracted in such a way would only have ordinary effects and it was sort of wasteful of rune materials, but it could still be used.
Lin Xun was extracting a pot of scarlet fire rune ink.
The formula for extracting scarlet fire rune ink was commonly known. However, if a slightly different combination of rune materials were to be used, it would have extremely different effects.
For example, the violet sun flower, which was used to extract scarlet fire rune ink, had different grades. The three-leaved violet sun flower was the most common and also exhibited the most common effect. The rarest nine-leaf violet sun flower had the most optimum effect.The scarlet fire rune ink that Lin Xun refined only consisted of various average quality rune materials, but he was still satisfied with the result.
Lin Xun didn’t sit and do nothing while the rune ink was being refined. He repeatedly polished a half-a-foot-long purple bone that was around the thickness of a chopstick on a grinder.
The dark purple bone, which had been removed from the leg bone of a savage beast called an ironbeak mountain pheasant, was a precious rune material.
Its value was attributed to the fact it could be made into a brush!
Unlike regular brushes, rune brushes were razor-sharp like blades. A rune brush was an essential tool for engraving runes and thus were also called a rune blade.
The grade of a brush was determined by the quality of the materials it was constructed from. The higher the grade of a brush, the better it could communicate with a rune master’s perception and aeth power.
A high-grade brush allowed a rune master to precisely control the rune ink’s power when engraving runes and the engraved rune would satisfy a rune master’s requirement in density, thickness and straightness.
Ever since the dark gray brush, which Mister Lu left to Lin Xun, had disappeared, Lin Xun had no brush available to practise the art of runes.
Fortunately, among the prey that the villagers collected there happened to be an ironbeak mountain pheasant, whose leg bones were precious brush-making materials.
Chi!
The purple bone produced screeches and sparks as Lin Xun constantly polished it until it faintly took the shape of a brush.
Snow-white beast bones were stacked all over Lin Xun’s courtyard and a thousand kilograms of beast meat hung across his walls like a mountain of meat.
Additionally, Lin Xun had categorized the beast skins, tendons, scales, claws, and horns piled them in an orderly manner.
They were all valuable treasures that could be used in medicine decoctions, rune ink extractions or exchanged for other supplies.
This was all the result of Lin Xun’s hard work for the past few days.
Xiao Tianren and the others had brought back too much. Nearly thirty savage beast corpses were distributed to Lin Xun.
There were more wild beasts and fierce beasts, but Lin Xun had little use for them and divided them amongst the households in the village.
Therefore, Lin Xun wasn’t the only one busy in the past few days. The villagers got up early and slept late to salt and process the beast meat to preserve them for later use.
It was only several days later that Lin Xun had finally finished dissecting all the savage beast corpses, leaving all of the valuable parts.
……
The smell of blood hung in the air for days, but Lin Xun was wholeheartedly focussed on sharpening the dark purple bone and didn’t seem to notice it at all.
After the time to burn an incense had passed.
The rune brush was finally completed. Lin Xun got up to clean the dust off the brush with clear spring water and unveiled the rune brush’s true face.
Under the sunlight, the slender and straight brush was entirely dark purple. Its body was heavy and unshowy, while the tip, emitting dazzling light, was as sharp as a blade and as thin as a cicada's wings.
Lin Xun silently held the brush, feeling the wisps of aeth power circulating inside and its subtle changes.
The start of a satisfied smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. The rune brush would be fully completed once he refined it with rune materials using some unique methods.
The iron pot suddenly sizzled and crackled as though it was about to explode.
The rune ink was ready!
Lin Xun couldn’t take care of anything else and urgently put out the fire. He waited until the iron pot cooled down before he went over with a clean porcelain bowl.
The pot of rune materials had been refined down to a bowl’s worth of an amber-like liquid. The liquid was bright red and translucent and seemed to be burning and producing a refreshing aroma at the same time.
Scarlet fire rune ink!
It looked like an elixir used for cultivation but it wasn’t for consumption.
As Lin Xun carefully poured the scarlet fire rune ink into the porcelain bowl, the smile on his lips grew. By night, he would be ready to engrave runes.
Xia Zhi had appeared next to Lin Xun without him realizing earlier. She pointed to the scarlet fire rune ink and asked sweetly. “Can it be eaten?”
But her question made Lin Xun jump and frantically shake his head. “This isn’t food, it’s poisonous if eaten.”
Xia Zhi sighed and stood to one side.
“I'll make you something good tonight.”
Lin Xun rubbed Xia Zhi’s little head and walked into the house.
Xia Zhi scrunched up her brows, as though she disliked being touched by Lin Xun. She stood there thinking it over and finally decided not to make a fuss about it.
She was indeed very unusual and completely different from the other children. She was extremely quiet and seldom spoke, but she was incredibly intelligent and learned at an astonishing speed.
Lin Xun would talk to Xia Zhi when he was free but he didn’t think she would learn the meaning of several phrases and even say some simple words and sentences in just a few days.
For example, “Can I eat this”, “I’m not full”, “I still want to eat”, “Is there anything to eat,” and “This tastes good”…
It was not surprising that Lin Xun regarded Xia Zhi as a beautiful little foodie. All the sentences she had learned involved food.
……
In the evening, Village Chief Xiao Tianren came to Lin Xun’s courtyard.
He seemed to be in a hurry. As soon as he saw Lin Xun, he said directly, “I’m ready. I can set off tomorrow.”
Lin Xun smiled, “It’s earlier than I expected.”
A few days ago, after a long discussion, Lin Xun and Xiao Tianren had decided to move all the villagers to a safe place before Lian Rufeng and his people returned.
This was to ensure the villagers safety.
Although they weren’t sure what Lian Rufeng and the others were plotting, they knew it wouldn’t be anything good.
“Haha, speaking of it, we were lucky to have that beast calamity. It allowed us to acquire a huge amount of prey, which if preserved, would last the villagers for a period.”
Xiao Tianren laughed heartily.
Lin Xun also laughed. “Uncle Xiao, it’s decided then. Please take everyone to the abandoned mine tomorrow to hide until I get rid of Lian Rufeng and the others. After that, we won’t have any more worries.”
Xiao Tianren nodded. Then, he assumed a serious expression and asked, “Lin Xun, it will be dangerous. You could lose your life if you fail. We don’t mind just accepting defeat. I doubt Lian Rufeng and the others would kill us all. So long as the mountains remain, there will always be firewood.”
“Uncle Xiao, the other villagers might have options to retreat, but if you and I fail, we no doubt would be killed. So, we have to succeed!” stated Lin Xun. His eyes calm and didn’t have the slightest hint of a ripple
His voice was resolute.
Xiao Tianren knew that Lian Rufeng had endured him for a long enough time and wouldn’t let him live if he had the chance.
He also knew that Lin Xun had no other route to take after killing Lu Ting and Qian Qi. His only option was to kill Lian Rufeng or be killed by Lian Rufeng.
Thinking of that, Xiao Tianren’s heart felt heavy and he couldn’t help but scrunch his brows in worry. “Then, are you ready?”
Lin Xun nodded. “I have one final step to make first.”
Xiao Tianren patted Lin Xun’s shoulder and said, “Be careful. If you lose, you must flee. The Great Three Thousand Mountains are very vast. Lian Rufeng can’t do anything to you if you manage to run away. Remember, you have to stay alive.”
A warmth filled Lin Xun's heart. “Don’t worry, Uncle Xiao, I know.”
Xiao Tianren gazed at Lin Xun for a good while before he turned away and left.
But he reminded Lin Xun again as he walked out the door, “Remember, staying alive is more important than everything.”
His hoarse voice drifted in the air like blood red ink.
Lin Xun smiled, then he turned around and returned to his room. Yes, I can only get revenge if I’m still alive. Everything is over when one dies.
He had understood the meaning behind that statement long ago.
In the early morning of the next day, a group of villagers packed their luggage and left the village under Xiao Tianren’s leadership.
They were just ordinary people and not cultivators. They didn’t have the strength to fight back against true cultivators and so they would only be a burden to Lin Xun if they stayed in the village.
Standing at the village entrance, Lin Xun silently watched them leave the village. Then, he turned and returned to the cold and empty village, his expression calm as always.
The autumn wind sighed and leaden clouds covered all of the sky, creating an oppressive, suffocating feeling that made it seem like a storm was descending soon.
Although Lian Rufeng and the others hadn’t returned, Lin Xun knew they would soon…
“Are you going into battle?”
When Lin Xun returned to his house, he saw Xia Zhi waiting for him at the door.
Lin Xun nodded. He knew that he couldn’t hide the truth from her given her intelligence.
“I will help you.”
Xia Zhi raised her head, revealing her beautiful face beneath the cloak. Her bright crescent-shaped eyes that resembled black jewels assumed the most serious expression.